The mini-Cube, which will provide demand response energy storage that will be grid-network tied, will be linked to a 32kW solar panel array and will supply standby power service for this Zero Energy Administration Building. The project is underwritten by the US Navy, and the purchase order calls for Axion’s work to begin in January with the full 36 PbC battery mini-PowerCube system to be completed in the first quarter of 2012. The principal contractor for the project is Herndon VA-based SilTek Inc.

Although this is a small project, in terms of dollars and number of batteries, it is a significant step forward because it comes on the heels of November’s ceremonious integration of our full PbC PowerCube onto the PJM network. [Earlier post.] At the unveiling ceremony with PJM, we spoke of the scalability of our PowerCube technology; this project will be the first deployment demonstrating the range [from small 10kW residential units, to stacked cube modules providing 20MW] of this application. It is also an important step forward because of the strong interest the US federal government in general, and the armed forces in particular, have in zero-energy projects that reduce carbon footprints. Because of our PbC battery’s extended cycle life, high rate of charge acceptance and fast re-charging capability, Axion is able to offer metrics that make economic sense especially when compared to other more exotic chemistries that are currently in the marketplace.

—Axion Power Chairman & CEO Thomas Granville

PbC technology is proprietary to Axion Power and is protected by multiple patents issued over the last decade. Basically, activated carbon is substituted for lead in the negative electrode in an otherwise traditionally constructed ‘lead-acid’ battery. But when compared to traditional, AGM, advanced lead-acid batteries or even lead-acid with carbon additives, the new PbC lead/carbon chemistry creates a much longer lifespan (3 to 4 times), much greater charge acceptance in partial state of charge applications (10 to 20 times more depending on the state of the battery), as well as faster re-charging capabilities (again depending on application—at least twice as fast but up to 10 times faster).

When compared to chemistries such as lithium ion, the PbC battery offers a much stronger safety profile, operates at higher efficiency at C° or sub C° temperatures and has a total life cycle cost structure that is a fraction of the total life cycle cost, Axion Power says.